The immune system and the brain are arguably the two major adaptive systems in the body, and, they communicate with each other extensivelyto cope with physiological and external changes. Abnormalities in such communications underlie many neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, such as schizophrenia, autism spectral disorders, depression, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Hence, properly controlled immune responses to inflammation and antigens are important for brain, cognitive and mental health. Cytokines are key components in the immune system, and function as signaling molecules for communications among cells, tissues and organs. In this project, we will study the effects of circulating levels of several cytokines on brain, cognitive and mental health. We will go beyond statistical correlations by estimating the causal effects of cytokine levels on brain structural changes and cognitive performance. To achieve our goal,
we will integrate the unprecedented statistical power of large-scale genomic data with fine-grained longitudinal samples. In addition, we will investigate whether the effects of cytokine on brain, cognitive and mental health varies with age, sex and environmental factors. Leveraging on the state-of-the-art methodologies and big data, this project will contribute to our knowledge on the relations between immune responses and brain, cognitive and mental health.
